Lee Martin
23.2K posts
Lee Martin
@leemartin
Netmaker. Playing the Internet in your favorite band for two decades. Previously Silva Artist Management, SoundCloud, and Songkick.
On May 2, 1982, the @weatherchannel went live at the National Cable Association convention in Las Vegas. From day one, personalized local forecasts were core to the mission. In order to pull this off, The Weather Channel engineered specialized WeatherStar hardware, got lucky on a satellite deal, and worked directly with the @nws to standardize their weather data. This ingenuity allowed local cable providers to show personalized weather, a format which really shined in the mid 90s when it was shown on the 8s of the hour. As soon as Rohit Agarwal, a fellow @soundcloud alum, became the CEO of the @weatherchannel, I slid into his DMs. I mentioned my love for the weather, the company, and was open to opportunities to work together if we could find the right project. Naturally, I knew the starting point had to be a recreation of the retro broadcast. Ever since this format quietly faded in the early 2010s, fans of the @weatherchannel documented and built incredible homages of their own. The real question: how do we set ours apart? I took an approach of retrofuturism. What if technology evolved but the @weatherchannel aesthetic did not? How would I recreate this format using best practices within the confines of a 90s design language? First, I spent countless hours in my notebook considering how the 4:3 ratio layout could be responsive to mobile screens. I then engineered a broadcast system which would autoplay the visual on the 8s (08, 18, 28, 38, 48, 58) of the hour and even allow for late joins. So, if you visit the site at 6:19am, you’ll be placed 1 minute into the broadcast. I also thought deeply about internationalization and have so far translated the app into 20 different languages, including adding Arabic RTL support. This makes the format accessible to locations which never had access to it. Naturally, the vibes and smooth jazz are there too. In a time when information seems to be immediate, abundant, and abrasive, RetroCast Now harks back to a time of slow data consumption. I hope it is calming, nostalgic, and useful. And now… your local forecast: weather.com/retro Thanks to the @weatherchannel for the opportunity of a lifetime. I dedicate this project to my Mom.
I thought I might provide a technical breakdown on weather.com/retro while it is still fresh in my head. Also happy to answer any questions about the build and write a more in-depth dev blog if needed.
